RESEARCH: Breaking Down Strikeouts with PITCHf/x
May 4 2011
What makes a strikeout? The first picture that comes to mind for many of us is that of a pitcher (probably a closer) blowing the hitter away with his fastball. At the same time, we know breaking balls and offspeed pitches which fool batters often result in strikeouts as well. So what are the pitch attributes that lend themselves to strikeouts more than others? We set out to explore that question this week by looking at PITCHf/x data.
A swing and a miss
In 2010, roughly 75% of all strikeouts were swinging (including foul tips). Not surprisingly then, a pitcher's ability to induce swinging strikes correlates highly with his strikeout rate per nine innings (in 2010, the correlation between the two was 0.83). These swinging...
Almost!
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